Sustainability and corn production

A report released today at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting contains some great facts on sustainability and corn production (plus wheat, cotton and soy production). As the National Corn Grower’s noted, the report shows that corn has seen these changes from 1987 to 2007:

• The amount of land needed to produce one bushel has decreased 37 percent.
• Soil loss above a tolerable level per bushel of corn has decreased by 69 percent.
• Irrigation use per bushel has decreased 27 percent.
• The energy used to produce a bushel or unit of corn has decreased by 37 percent.
• Corn production has seen a 30 percent decrease in emissions per bushel.

This first-of-its-kind report creates a framework for measuring agriculture sustainability. Developed to inform long-term continuous improvements in agriculture production, the initial findings indicate crop production is already making progress toward reducing its environmental footprint. The Environmental Resource Indicators report was released Field to Market, the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture.

Field to Market is a diverse alliance that represents many links in the food chain, including grower organizations, agribusinesses, food companies and conservation organizations. The report evaluated national-scale metrics over the past two decades for land use, water use, energy use, soil loss and climate impact in corn, soy, cotton and wheat production. In 2007, these crops comprised nearly 70 percent of the 305 million acres of U.S. cropland.

"Several trends are emerging. Importantly, production agriculture has become increasingly efficient, relying on fewer inputs to produce more," said Michael Reuter, director of conservation programs for the central U.S. region of The Nature Conservancy, a member of the Keystone Alliance.

The initial index shows that soil-loss efficiency trends have improved 30-70 percent for the four crops evaluated. Energy use per unit of output is down 40-60 percent. Irrigated water use per unit of output has decreased 20-50 percent while carbon emissions per unit of output have dropped by about a third.

"Increasingly we’re hearing from our consumers who want to make sustainable food and fiber choices," said John Wolf, vice president of ingredients, commodities and risk management at Kellogg Company. "It's important consumers understand the progress already being made while recognizing that bringing the entire supply chain together is critical to continue making advances from the farm fields to the supermarket shelves."

For a copy of the full report, click here.